


Feeling Better

by agentx13 (rebelle_elle)



Category: Captain America (Comics)
Genre: F/M, sharon carter appreciation month
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-29
Updated: 2015-03-29
Packaged: 2018-03-20 04:18:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3636459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelle_elle/pseuds/agentx13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>The men - no more than boys, really - were nothing more than ghosts now, Steve thought.</i>
</p>
<p>Steve is depressed enough to watch old newsreels of boys who never came home from the War. Sharon attempts to cheer him up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Feeling Better

The men - no more than boys, really - were nothing more than ghosts now, Steve thought. Black and white faces wavered on the projection screen, flickering in time with the quiet clacks as the reel of aged film passed through the projector. He knew others found the constant noise annoying, but he’d come to find it comforting. The noise grounded him, and even though he most often heard the sound when he was thinking of those he’d lost, it reminded him of those he’d loved. His friends, his war buddies, his mother and grandfather, they’d all heard the familiar clack when they’d treated themselves to a movie and the projectionist hadn’t bothered closing the door during the steaming Brooklyn summers.

He used to wonder if he could sully those memories by using the projector to mourn the people who’d died. He shouldn’t have kept all the newsreels, but there were days he wondered who would mourn these men if he didn’t, days when he wondered if the men who had died preserving the country would be proud of what it had become.

The door opened, and yellow light washed out the faces of boys who were now long dead. He turned off the projector as Sharon walked in to sit on the arm of his chair. She slid an arm around his shoulders. “You okay?”

He bent his arm and covered her hand with his. Her skin was cool, and it occurred to him that she was wearing nothing but her nightgown. He pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her to warm her. “I’m fine.”

“Liar.” Her tone was fond. They'd known each other long enough that she knew what it meant when he watched the newsreels late into the night. She slid out of his grasp and tugged on his hand. “Come to bed. We have work in the morning, you know.”

Steve sighed. Saving the world again. The job never seemed to stop.

She frowned at his weariness, and her voice softened. “Come on.”

He took his time pushing himself up, mostly because he enjoyed how much Sharon tried to pull him the rest of the way when she thought he was close to standing. He followed her to their bedroom, and Sharon turned off the light as they each lay on their respective sides. Instinctively, he reached out for her. Ever since her time undercover when everyone had thought she was dead, when the guards had pawed at her in her cramped cell, she hadn’t liked being touched while sleeping. She rarely curled up against him anymore, though on nights when neither of them had nightmares, sometimes he'd wake to find her fingers lightly intertwined with his. Steve had taken to lightly holding a ring of her hair or brushing his fingers lightly along her back.

Before he could touch her, she straddled him in one smooth move that betrayed her years of SHIELD and gymnastics training. Even if she hadn’t been on top of him, the move would have given him pause. He’d come to appreciate how she moved. She pressed her lips to his, and he kissed back with slowly mounting fervor. One of Sharon’s hands slid under his shirt, and after a moment, she began to grind her hips against his. He broke the kiss. “I don’t think that’s going to help right now, Sharon.”

She paused, and in the darkness he could almost hear her licking her lips as she regained her composure. She planted a soft kiss on his cheek and moved away. “Okay. But I’m here for you, Steve. And not just for sex.” Her voice was rueful. “Just... whatever you need.” She shoved her pillow into place as Steve kicked himself. He'd just been mourning all the boys and men who'd never got the chance to live, and then he'd turned down an opportunity they'd never get. And he and Sharon had lost each other too many times for him to take any moment with her for granted.

Before she could settle under the sheets, Steve had rolled on top of her. “I might have changed my mind.”

She snorted. “Really. You just said-”

“I spoke too soon.” He ducked his head to nuzzle her neck. “You make me feel better.”

“I _am_ your SHIELD liaison. Technically, it’s my job to watch out for you any way I can.”

He lifted his head, propping himself up with an elbow and toying with her hair as he stared into her eyes. The light was dim in the room, but he knew her well enough that he could imagine the faint and teasing smile on her lips. “Is that all I am to you, Sharon? A job?”

“A job that comes with a really nice place and a really big bed.” Steve felt her heel on his ass pulling him in closer and braced himself with a faint snort. SHIELD agent or no, she was physically no match for a super soldier. She grunted, and he kissed her neck before she could catch the grin on his face. “Besides. I’m your liaison. How do I know you’re not sleeping with me to get ahead at SHIELD? A better parking space. A better coffee mug?”

“I could have been pushing for a better coffee mug this whole time?” he murmured. He added some teeth to the kiss and heard her ensuing moan with satisfaction. “If you’d told me sooner, I would have seduced you as soon as I knew you were my liaison.” She laughed in his ear, and he pulled away with a frown. “What?”

She wrapped an arm around him before he could get too far away. “You think you seduced me? Steve. I love you, but you’re as good at seduction as you are at dirty talk.”

Steve ran his free hand through his hair. “I’m good at seduction.”

“Good-ish. Not good enough to get me in your bed.” He gave her a pointed look, and she rolled her eyes. “We got back together because you kissed me and I happened to already like you! You didn’t seduce me! There were no smoldering looks, no great, flirtatious lines.”

“Rare are the times I haven’t given you the smolder, Sharon.”

She laughed again, this time louder, and Steve had to smile at the way her muscles moved beneath her skin, how she had so many soft spots that he’d come to know through the years. “Go on, then. Give me a smolder, Steve.”

He trailed a hand down her side, keeping it slow in hopes it would distract her. She hated it slow. Or at least, that was what she said. In truth, he thought she just hated feeling like she was losing control, and going slow drew that feeling out. But he’d worked hard to get her to trust him enough to go slow, and he could remember times when she’d rather seemed to like it.

“I know what you’re doing.”

His hand stopped. She twisted a leg between them and pushed him away; he caught her ankle and turned his head to kiss her calf.

She made a small sound in the back of her throat but didn’t relent. “I want to see this famous smolder, Steve. What about talking dirty? Can you talk dirty to me?”

In the near-darkness, Steve made a face at her, complete with puckered lips, and her laughter began anew. The laughter was contagious, and he held her ankle carefully as he lowered his head to her chest and laughed. He felt better than he had in days.

“Oh, God. Oh, my God. Are you okay with me taking a picture of that? Because it’s priceless.” She reached for the bedside table where she kept her phone.

He groaned and moved her leg to the side so he could lean over her again. He reached out and stopped her hand with a heavy hand of his own. “Maybe later. Just don’t make me talk dirty to you. You’ll never let me live it down.” He pressed a soft kiss to her lips.

She returned the kiss as he resituated himself over her. “I’ve never let you live it down before,” she agreed. She craned her neck to kiss the corner of his lips. “You know I love you, right?”

“Not any more than I love you.”

He knew she’d roll her eyes at that; she was much less of a romantic since she’d come back from that undercover mission years ago. But before she could tease him some more, his lips captured hers again. The kiss was passionate enough that when he slowed it down, she didn’t complain.


End file.
